Shamas Foundation promoted to KRU championship

In a tightly contested rugby encounter staged at the RFUEA Grounds on Saturday afternoon, Shamas Foundation managed to secure their place in the country's second-tier rugby league after narrowly edging Daystar Falcons 17-13 in a nationwide semi-final fixture where the winners would automatically book one of the two slots available for the finalists.

In the closely fought and thrilling contest, Shamas had to show their grit as they had to come from behind to ensure their place in the Kenya Rugby Union Championship next season.

"We have been at it for three years and to finally manage to do it now makes us extremely happy. We went the whole season unbeaten which is also very impressive for us. The game today was not the best but we were on the right side of the scoreboard and we are happy we progressed. Now that we are in the championship, we still have a long way to go and it is just for us to go back and work hard," James Kang'ethe, Shamas head coach told Mozzart Sport.

The Falcons started the brightest of the two, John Oliele confidently nailing a drop goal for the varsity side before Emanuel Oponde touched down an unconverted try to give the team a 0-8 lead in the opening twenty minutes.

It is then that Shamas had to dig deep to overturn the unfolding proceedings. Erick Shikuku beat his markers with a clever dummy at the corner before touching down for their first try that was successfully converted to reduce the deficit to 7-8.

Ten minutes to the halfway break, Shamas managed to get their second try as they led 12-8 at halftime following an unsuccessful conversion.

In the second half, both sides managed to grab a try apiece that cancelled out each other as Shamas hunged on to win the game 17-13, a result that was enough to send them through to the finals and consequently secure their place in the championship.